Why the use of a tweaking app? I've
dealt with the issues of people tweaking XP for over 3 years. The
email usually begins something like "I know you said to back up but
I didn't and now 'xyz' doesn't work".

Using a tweaking app allows both the
novice and expert to quickly and safely do/undo tweaks. If you don't
want to use an app for this see the Creating Your Own Registry Files
section.

Using
X-Setup

X-setup is an especially powerful
program which I encourage you to explore. One word of caution. When
choosing some options in X-Setup you may get a warning message that
basically states that messing with these settings can hose your
system. Pay attention to these warnings!

After you launch X-Setup, choose
"Classic" under "start options"

Performance

Action:
Speed Up Windows Explorer. *All
Levels

Purpose:
Performance

All X-Setup Plug-ins > Appearance >
Explorer > Settings > Explorer Options > check box that says Enable
fast update and apply changes. Be sure to uncheck the other 2
options if you do not want to use them.

This tweak may cause errors with an
occasional program including the installation (not the running of)
Norton products.

From
Microsoft: "When disable8dot3 is set to 0, every time you create
a file with a long file name, NTFS creates a second file entry that
has an 8.3 character-length file name. When NTFS creates files in a
folder, it must look up the 8.3 character-length file names
associated with the long file names."

From
Microsoft: "Disabling the Last Access Time improves the speed of
folder and file access...Note that using the disablelastaccess
parameter can affect programs such as backup and Remote Storage that
rely on this feature."

note
- Using this tweak will slow the viewing of thumbnails a tad. The
advantage is that the thumbnails will always reflect the current
version of the pics and you won't have thumbs.db files all over your
hard drives.

Clearing the prefetch folder isn't
something you should be doing very often. Prefetching is a great
feature of XP. I've seen more than one "expert" opine that you
should clear the prefetch folder "monthly" or "often".

Really? WHY??? Time is exactly what
makes the prefetching feature more efficient.** The only reason to
mess with the prefetch folder is after major changes to your
machine. (see the Bad Tweaks section)

All X-Setup Plug-ins > Appearance >
Desktop > Icons > 'My Computer' Options > Show USERNAME on 'My
Computer' > check the box on the right of the screen and apply
changes. Right click on desktop and choose Refresh to see changes.

All X-Setup Plug-ins > Appearance > OEM
Branding > OEM General > name as you like and apply changes!

Action:
Create a logon message *All Levels

Purpose:
fun!

More Info -
See "purpose"!

All X-Setup Plug-ins > Startup/Shutdown
> Startup > Windows NT/2K/XP > Before Logon Window > Legal Notice >
type what you want to appear, like "Death to all who enter" or
whatever! Lots of great options in the Startup section!

TweakUI allows you to easily change the
location of "Special Folders". These include:

The My Documents folder OR just parts of
it. Favorites folder.

My Computer > Special Folders
> in the section entitled Special Folders on the right, use
the arrow to choose which folder you want to move. Click the
Change location button and enter the new location. ***Be sure to
move your files from the old folder to the new one. This method does
not automatically do it for you.

Appearance

Action:
Remove Shortcut arrows *All Levels

Purpose:
Because those arrows suck!

Click on Explorer > Shortcut
> check the NONE box on the right and apply.

Logon

Action:
Automatic LogonLevels 2
, 3, 4

Purpose:
Faster boot.

This effectively bypasses having a logon
password to start XP. Someone can sit down at your computer, use it,
and access all resources (including network) in your name. I do not
recommend this in 99% of situations.